I’ve developed quite the coffee shop habit, and if I can say this without sounding judgmental: I’m sure that you have, too! The warm weather just calls for a tall iced coffee, right? Before my fellow iced coffee lovers sing my praises, I feel the need to confess that I drink hot coffee in the winter. I just think you should know that I’m a chai latte in the winter type of person (or a homemade pumpkin spice latte), and an iced mocha person in the summer. I have a coffee shop near me that makes spicy iced mochas with a bit of heat. The only way to describe it is: addicting. The chocolate sauce is spiked with cinnamon and a touch of cayenne pepper. Every time the heat hits your tongue, you just keep sipping more and more iced coffee to deal. Before you know it, you’ve downed a giant spicy iced mocha bigger than your head. Speaking of giant drinks that I consume in warm weather, my peach iced tea is another favorite cold drink! It is time to turn my weekly coffee shop habit into a homemade iced mocha production. Ready? Let’s do this!
Ingredients:
cold brew concentrate: You can buy this at most grocery stores now! Trader Joe’s has several varieties, and Target has my favorite one (seen below). Keep it in the fridge for maximum iciness. water sugar: I like to use coconut sugar–it has a caramel taste that I’m obsessed with. honey: If you want to keep this vegan, replace the honey with more regular sugar. cocoa powder cinnamon cayenne pepper: Just a small amount of spicy cayenne brings a kick to the chocolate sauce. milk: Please use your milk of choice here. I reach for coconut milk or soy milk, most commonly, but cow’s milk is great!
Steps to make an iced mocha from scratch:
My game plan was this: I made a jar of homemade chocolate sauce that I spiked with cinnamon and cayenne (I store it in the fridge for easy access all week long), I grabbed a bottle of Cold Brew Concentrate (totally love that it’s shelf-stable and concentrated so it’s easy to use!), and my favorite iced cold milk (coconut milk lover, over here!). The three of these ingredients together? Oh, Mama. This drink makes me dance.
We should probably talk about the beautiful chocolate rim on the glasses, right? To make it, I pour some of the chocolate sauce into a shallow dish, and then I quickly dunk the rim of each glass in it. Then, I gently dip part of the glass edge into a bowl with extra cinnamon and cayenne–not too much, or it will be very spicy! When I flip the glass right-side up, the extra chocolate sauce drips down the side. You would love my caramel latte if you like chocolate sauce in your coffee! Trust me on this!
Dairy-free chocolate sauce:
One of the things we haven’t exactly talked about is that this chocolate sauce is rich and creamy without dairy! I love that this chocolate sauce recipe is dairy-free. If you’ve stood in line at a coffee shop lately, you know that almost everyone in front of you is ordering their coffee dairy-free with almond milk, coconut milk, hemp milk, or walrus milk. You don’t need cream or milk to make this rich chocolate sauce, because: honey. Honey is what makes it super thick and rich!
For extra coffee buzz:
If you want to freeze some cold brew concentrate into an ice cube tray and blend all of these ingredients together into a frozen frappuccino, you will love this variation on this recipe. Get the coffee shop experience at home, where the walrus milk is. I hope you know I’m kidding about walrus milk. If you need a cupcake with coffee flavor, try my white mocha cupcakes or my frozen mocha brownie bites. Please forgive those super old photos, but the recipes are perfection! If you like spicy chocolate, you would like my chocolate ginger cookies. Or, drink these iced mochas in the morning with my small batch coffee cake muffins!
SaveSave cold brew concentrate: You can buy this at most grocery stores now! Trader Joe’s has several varieties, and Target has my favorite one (seen below). Keep it in the fridge for maximum iciness.watersugar: I like to use coconut sugar–it has a caramel taste that I’m obsessed with.honey: If you want to keep this vegan, replace the honey with more regular sugar.cayenne pepper: Just a small amount of spicy cayenne brings a kick to the chocolate sauce.milk: Please use your milk of choice here. I reach for coconut milk or soy milk, most commonly, but cow’s milk is great! SaveSave SaveSave SaveSave SaveSave SaveSave
